Linothele quori Dupérré & Tapia, 2015

Linothele quori Dupérré & Tapia, 2015: 361, figs 41-47.

TYPE MATERIAL. — Holotype. Ecuador • ♂; Santo Domingo de Las Tsáchilas, Parroquia San José de Alluriquín, La Florida; 0°15’0.9144”S, 79°1’49.547”W; 884 m a.s.l.; 20.XI.2014; E. Tapia, I. Tapia, A. Tapia and N. Dupérré leg.; hand collected from female’s web; QCAZ.

Paratype. Ecuador • 1 ♀; same collecting data as for holotype .

TYPE LOCALITY. — La Florida, Ecuador.

DISTRIBUTION. — Only known from the type locality.

DIAGNOSIS. — “Males and females are diagnosed by their unique gold and purple colour […]. Males are further distinguished by the straight embolus with slightly bent tip […]; females by their wide and short spermathecae […], elongated and tapering apically in all other species.” see Dupérré & Tapia (2015: 361).

DESCRIPTION (FOLLOWING Dupérré & Tapia 2015)

Male

CL = 5.0. CT = 9. MC = ~22. Colouration alive: overall yellowish; opisthosoma “yellow-brown with purplish mesh pattern (purplish pattern appears dark brown in alcohol) […], ventrally with purplish pattern”; maculae present. Sternum, labium and maxillae: see Dupérré & Tapia (2015: fig. 45). Leg formula 4123. Preening-combs absent. Leg tarsi pseudo-segmented. Palpal organ: “bulb pyriform; embolus long and thin, half the length of the tibia”, see Dupérré & Tapia (2015: fig. 44). Megaspine and MP: see Dupérré & Tapia (2015: fig. 46).

Female

CL = 6.0. CT = 9. MC = ~25. Colouration alive: as for male, see Dupérré & Tapia (2015: figs 41, 47). Leg formula: 4123. Scopula divided. Leg tarsi weakly pseudo-segmented. Spermathecae: “joined at base, wide and short, with small vesicles medially, with or without stalks”, see Dupérré & Tapia (2015: figs 42, 43).

REMARKS

Unfortunately, we were unable to obtain images of the relevant structures, but the illustrations for male characters in the first description show a megaspine and MP at prolateral tibia and metatarsus I. The description mentions those to be situated retrolaterally. As a prolateral megaspine and MP have not been observed in any other Linothele, it is likely the terms “prolateral” and “retrolateral” have been swapped in the illustration legends.

NATURAL HISTORY

According to Dupérré & Tapia (2015), specimens of L. quori “[…] were collected in foothill forest. This species builds webs approximately 30 × 20 cm […], with a central funnel that is almost always 1 m from the ground, attached to epiphyte bases or tree trunks. The specimens collected live in sympatry with L. tsachilas and L. zaia, but in a very distinctive micohabitat. Two juveniles females were collected in a low evergreen forest at 1426 m, where they build webs of 30 × 20 cm from 1 m to 3 m from the ground, attached to epiphytes bases or tree trunks […]”.